Tuesday 16th October

When the history of our be-knighted times comes to be written, what will be the conclusion; because for the life of me, I cannot see the way ahead.  Are we in some sort of terminal decline, with over-population eventually swamping the planet, or will our resources miraculously keep increasing to meet the new demand.  And more importantly how will those precious resources be shared out.  For most of my teenage years and my twenties I was convinced that the sweep of History was in the direction of more equality, more freedom, more socialism.  Was I then just another deluded fool infected with neo-communist theory?  Because I could see no way in which Capitalism would win in the long run, even though that long run might well outrun my own life.

But what none of us really appreciated was how the supertanker that is China could be turned around and how this so-called Communist state would succeed in turning itself into the powerhouse of the world, with what is maybe an even more vicious, heavily state influenced Capitalism.  Who needs Democracy – we can give you ever-growing Wealth and the chance to live a life of luxury and plenty when your very own grandparents almost starved and died penniless.  And America connives, as too do almost all the old European centres of freedom.  The old enemy Communism is dead, but maybe no-one has quite recognized the new one yet.

Or does the wheel keep turning, will the pendulum swing back and the values I treasure and believe in; human decency, kindness, sharing, altruism even, become refreshed and start to not only push back but to win.

I used to think that Capitalism would ‘eat itself’, that naked Greed would result in such a polarized society that it wouldn’t even be worth being rich if you had to live your whole life behind security gates.  That they would run out of countries to export poverty to, that if people hadn’t enough money to buy the very stuff they were producing then they must eventually rise up and change things.  I am not so sure these days.  Hopefully this is just the pessimism of age and the optimism of the young will succeed where we have failed.